We performed a comparison between Arista Networks Platform and Cisco Nexus based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
Comparison Results: In this comparison, the two products received similar ratings across all categories. However, users of Arista Networks Platform reported seeing an ROI while users of Cisco Nexus did not.
"The most valuable feature is the Linux shell, which is useful for troubleshooting or capturing traffic."
"Arista Networks Platform has a feature that helps with monitoring and management."
"The user-friendly policy manager lets us apply different controls for various user groups easily."
"The solution has good load latency. They're the market leader in this aspect right now."
"It is very stable. It has good hardware and very stable code. It provides good value for its price. They are a very lean type of organization, so they are very responsive, and they're able to focus more on their platform versus having multiple products out there."
"What we like most is its performance to price ratio."
"Arista Networks Platform offers straightforward deployment, and has good features. Support for the platform is also good."
"The most valuable aspect of Arista Networks products is their ease of configuration, especially when compared to Cisco products. When we implement advanced features for data centers such as BGP EVPN and VXLAN, Arista's configuration process is similar to that of Cisco's process, but at the same time it is simply much easier, clearer, and more understandable."
"We have a much more stable network now using the Cisco Nexus."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is that it scales well. It supports a lot of servers. We don't have to come up with different designs for anything. That's the best part about it."
"It's easy to use, and the performance is great."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is stability. We have a pretty large campus."
"Its easy management is most valuable. It is easy to use, easy to manage, stable, and very reliable."
"The initial setup is pretty easy."
"We now have one box that does multiple services."
"It speeds up the network data transfer time."
"The community is good but is not good enough. It still needs to grow more."
"They need to enhance their code and their EOS. They need to improve some security features, and there are quite a number of bugs in their system. So, they need to work on that piece. In the next release, we need to have a modular feature. Instead of providing an integrated solution, they should go for something modular. They need to come up with modular highly scalable models. Even at the chassis layer, I want to see some improvement."
"The overall price of the Arista Networks Platform is expensive. It should be reduced."
"An area for improvement in Arista Networks Platform is its integration, e.g. it needs to have more integration with its new products. Incorporating more security and cloud is also another area for improvement in the platform."
"A smoother transition between ISPs during failover would improve the user experience by reducing unnecessary notifications and interruptions."
"The CVP management platform needs to be improved."
"Its price can be better."
"They should have a more stable code."
"The initial setup of the Cisco Nexus platform takes a long time. It's a complex system because we have a lot of security layers."
"The code quality for this solution has gotten worse and needs improvement."
"The technical support for this solution needs to be improved."
"Data center access is stable and high speed but it is not compatible with Cisco's server hardware devices. The solution can be technically improved and can have features like automation, better visibility, better functionality, and cheap pricing."
"One of the biggest challenges, which I see is that there's a constant evolution in the product. For example, our configuration is based on what is known as traditional data center implementation. Today there is the ACI deployment and to implement, to migrate from one technology to another, that's challenging both from a configuration perspective and also from a cost perspective."
"The operating system needs to be improved. There should be stability in the operating system, and it should not have as many vulnerabilities."
"One of our switches died last week and we were able to RMA it. Within four hours it arrived on time and worked."
"There is limited guidance in terms of the use and configuration of Cisco Nexus for specific use cases. The documentation is not comprehensive, and you have to do a lot of online research."
Arista Networks Platform is ranked 2nd in Data Center Networking with 21 reviews while Cisco Nexus is ranked 3rd in Data Center Networking with 101 reviews. Arista Networks Platform is rated 8.6, while Cisco Nexus is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Arista Networks Platform writes "Affordable for enterprise-sized companies". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Cisco Nexus writes " Offer high performance capabilities and enables efficient data transmission and processing". Arista Networks Platform is most compared with Cisco Catalyst Switches, Juniper EX Series Ethernet Switches, Aruba Switches, Cisco Ethernet Switches and Meraki MS Switches, whereas Cisco Nexus is most compared with Cisco Catalyst Switches, Juniper QFX Series Switches, Dell PowerConnect Switches, VMware NSX and ExtremeSwitching. See our Arista Networks Platform vs. Cisco Nexus report.
See our list of best Data Center Networking vendors.
We monitor all Data Center Networking reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.